|
|
Endangered Species
Books about endangered species and extinct wild animals.
|
|
The Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species
Since the dawn of history, no other living thing (save, possibly, the snake) has been as reviled by humankind as the wolf. Still, wolves and people have been drawn to each other since the beginning. Canis lupus bounds through our folklore, howls in our dreams, and--occasionally--competes with us on the hunt. As one zoologist imagines it: "Through the cold of winter the wolf made music in the mysterious darkness and sometimes, in curiosity, sat just beyond the dwindling circle of firelight and watched." The curiosity was mutual; this is the feared animal, ironically, that gave rise to man's best friend. Yet only recently has science begun to understand these complex social mammals. Enter biologist L. David Mech. Years of research during the 1960s in Michigan's Isle Royale National Park provided Mech with a level of firsthand knowledge shared by few in the field. In 1970 he compiled his findings (updated in 1980) into the preeminent document of its kind. Thomas McNamee, author of The Return of the Wolf to Yellowstone, calls the book the "best single source of information on wolf biology," and refers to its author as "the undisputed king of wolf research." When government officials in the early 1990s decided to embark on an ambitious project to reintroduce wolves into their former range of Yellowstone National Park, they called on Mech's expertise. All this is to say that, if you want to learn about wolves, you cannot ignore this seminal work or its author. Chapters cover wolf evolution, range, and physiology; society and pack behavior; reproduction; hunting and predator-prey relationships; and the species' uncertain future. Like any self-respecting scientist, Mech includes all the hard data, but he presents his work in an engaging manner that is accessible to a broader audience, drawing heavily on anecdotes and personal experience. "Many people strongly dislike the wolf," Mech writes, "others rush to its defense. But no one denies that the animal is strong, powerful, intelligent, keen, and dynamic." While persecution by man has severely restricted its current status, the tide is turning, thanks to education and conservation efforts. After all, a night without a howl echoing somewhere across the landscape would surely be a colder, less alive night. --Langdon Cook
|
|
|
The Last Panda
Only George Schaller, the intrepid and clear-eyed biologist and author, could have written this book. In 1980 Schaller became the first foreigner allowed to study the panda in its native habitat, in China's Sichuan Province. Five years later he emerged shaken and angered by what he saw as mismanagement leading to the panda's decline. Schaller is unafraid to criticize the Chinese government, the U.S. government, even the World Wildlife Fund, which uses the panda as its logo. This beautiful, passionate book shows that, sadly, even a species as well-known and well-loved as the panda faces a grim future in modern Asia.
|
|
|
The Rarest of the Rare : Vanishing Animals, Timeless Worlds (Vintage)
How do bombardier beetles choose their mates? Why does a firefly's tail light up at night? What does a monk seal talk about, barking out there on the offshore reef? These questions all have some bearing on the way we humans live our lives, strange though they may seem. Diane Ackerman, a tireless explorer of the natural world, looks for answers among animals that are fast disappearing as their native habitats are destroyed--creatures such as the monarch butterfly, the short-tailed albatross, and the wonderfully named golden lion tamarin. She writes with grace and compassion, but also with a considerable command of science, which makes her work essential for students of nature writing.
|
|
|
Animal Underworld: Inside America's Black Market for Rare and Exotic Species
Zoos are places where animals are protected, kept safe from the ravages of the outside world and sheltered from extinction, right? Not necessarily, writes investigative reporter Alan Green, who takes his readers behind the bars in Animal Underworld to tell an unsettling tale of deception and cruelty. That story opens at a zoo in northern Virginia, one of many such places around the United States in which black bears, once an exotic sight, have become a too-common commodity. Baby bears bring crowds, Green writes; unruly juveniles and listless adults do not. What happens to the bears who cannot contribute to the zoo's overhead? Animal sanctuaries are already overfull; individuals are not allowed to keep bears as pets without hard-to-obtain licenses; and bears raised in cages do not know how to fend for themselves in the wild. There is simply no place for them, Green writes, and the bears have economic worth only for their parts--the claws for jewelry, the flesh for restaurants, the paws for Asian apothecaries. The nefarious means by which supposedly protected animals--many in danger of disappearing in the wild--are brought to market forms the heart of Green's disturbing report. Some of the country's most important zoos and museums turn up as villains in his pages, and readers will likely never visit such places again without wondering at the fate of the creatures that look out at them from the other side of the cage. --Gregory McNamee
|
|
|
The Condor's Shadow: The Loss and Recovery of Wildlife in America
"More than 85 percent of the virgin forests of the United States have been logged, 90 percent of the tallgrass prairies have been plowed or paved, and 98 percent of the rivers and streams have been dammed, diverted, or developed." In the face of this large-scale reshaping of the land, it is small wonder, notes Environmental Defense Fund ecologist David Wilcove, that so many plant, insect, and animal species should be endangered, mostly as a result of habitat loss. Writing in the tradition of Peter Matthiessen, whose book Wildlife in America he cites as an important influence, Wilcove examines the history of extinctions in North America, a history that continues into the present. Wilcove believes that as much as 16 percent of all U.S. flora and fauna are in imminent danger--at least 16,000 species. Obstacles to effective conservation abound, Wilcove writes, among them "a lack of information, a tendency to ignore a problem until it becomes a crisis, a failure to commit adequate resources, and a failure to reward landowners who aid in the restoration of imperiled wildlife." Yet he sees hope in certain conservation efforts, especially those that look beyond individual species to try to preserve whole habitats. This book adds much useful information to the current discussion about the use of public lands and the curtailment of urban and suburban growth, and its conclusions are timely--even urgent. --Gregory McNamee
|
|
|
|
Site
Map
